Spy
There are loads of takes on the Spy genre at the moment. I have already spoken of my first time admiration for Kingsman: The Secret Service. The Man From Uncle is out, as is the latest Mission Impossible film. James Bond is on the way in Spectre. Spy is a comedic take on the genre pitched slightly more seriously than Austin Powers; unlike Doctor Evil, the villains are deadly and competent, even if the same cannot be said for all of our heroine’s colleagues.

I’ve not seen Melissa McCarthy in anything before, but I really enjoyed her performance here. The movie has attracted criticism for stereotyping fat people and/or single women, especially in its first act, but I like its honesty, and it all works in the context of the arc. McCarthy is a great comedic performer, and is ably supported with a fine supporting cast. Jason Statham, going for laughs again after appearing as an action hero in a series of movies, is a revelation.

The movie is vulgar and sweet all at the same time. It’s impossible not to root for McCarthy’s character, and mercifully, the movie doesn’t bother with any of the training shit you’d normally see when a “normal person” becomes extraordinary. She’s a qualified agent at the start of the movie; just shoehorned into an admin role while others took the field jobs.

Big scores on Metacritic. Not sure how it’ll hold up on repeated viewings, but the debut view was a blast. Recommended.

I never paid much attention to the Bitch Boys. I mean, I spose I’ve heard bits of their songs on Radio, and it all sounds a bit Twee and Dad Music and Not My Cup Of Tea. But then I watched movie bout the Bitch Boys called Love & Mercy. It is good film! It is mostly about the one bro called Brian who is Genius, which is something I have often observed bout bros called Brian, but he is also bit mental, which is not something I have observed bout bros called Brian. It is about how he done his music, which was v.interesting, but also about how later in life this one psychiatrist bro was taking advantage of him + overmedicating on him + stealing his money and what not. It turns out alright in the end tho, because Brian gets to bang Elizabeth Banks.

After I watched the movie I was interested enough in Bitch Boys to download their album called Pet Sounds, and I was like, woah, this is really good album by Bitch Boys! I also like this one song called Good Vibrations cos when you listen on it properly, i.e. in full + on headphones, rather than just the 5 seconds you normally hear before you change radio station, you can hear in that song the mental instability + genius of Brian from Bitch Boys. It’s there in the jump cuts + the unusual structure + particular all the little sounds + details. I have upgraded Bitch Boys from band I would just go meh when someone mentions them, to band which i would say yeah i quite like Bitch Boys.

Yeah. Also you have adverts for i.e. local tyre garage. Then there is i.e. a Tom & Jerry cartoon before the movie, and then, at half time, there is a break and an ice-cream woman comes round. I wouldn’t recommend sitting in the smoking area tho, it fucking stinks.

I’m actually making a concerted effort to watch more films, because it’s getting to the point where I don’t understand films with a lot of cultural references and the median year of films I pick is 1987.

They used to have all-nighters at the ABC in Above Bar. They were excellent, although they could not have been good for the health. People chuffing away all night on ciggies. They actually had intermissions too, with ice cream. All ciggie flavoured

Saw Birdman on a plane too. Was a bit wary because I’ve seen all of the critical acclaim, and on viewing the fill-um, felt that it might be something critics might love because of the themes in the movie*, and the way it distilled all the evils of critics into that one character, and mostly that one scene.

I didn’t feel cheated, because there is so much else to like about that film. The performances, the anxiety, the need to be taken seriously versus the indifference of an establishment that has already decided what you are, and won’t treat you any other way. Loved the nocturnal vibe, and Keaton’s internal conflict was manifested beautifully.

I watched both of the Crank films last night in order. The sequel is almost a beat for beat do-over of the original with more outlandish versions of the same shit you saw last time, but regardless, I can’t help liking them and I think I’d have been thrilled to have seen them in the 1980s. No brain required; in fact I recommend switching it off. Fast paced and very dumb action fun.

Cinema-goer attacked by snake - posted in News Archives: A woman was attacked by a four feet long python as she watched Mr and Mrs Smith at a cinema in the United Arab Emirates.
She was rescued by another woman movie-goer who calmly unwrapped the...

This kinda stopped me EVER wanting to go to the cinema here in Dubai (that and the fact that certain people talk all the timne on their mobiles and you get arrested if you complain).

We did go to 9am IMax screenings of Into Darkness & Skyfall though and yes I will be there for Star Wars of course.

So I watch movies on planes. But for example on the way home from Vitesse I watched a great movie. Trouble is I was upgraded from Cattle Class to Business and then again to First so I don’t remember a damned thing.

Only film I remember seeing on a plane of late was Edge of Tomorrow which is possibly Tom Cruise’s finest.

I did watch a Brit Flick from 2010 on telly tonight - Thorne:Sleepyhead with David Morrisey. Now that was one very well put together whodunnit movie co-starring the sleazeball Brothel Owner from GoT, but I kinda got the feeling it was a made for TV one or something.

Legend, which got mixed reviews during its festival run. I thought Tom Hardy’s performance as both the Kray twins so outweighed any weaknesses that the film was gripping from the opening (very funny) scene. For all the violence (what else? It’s the Krays), the film generally is suprisingly funny, and it captures something of the subculture of the East End hardnut in some nicely observed mannerisms (such as the way the younger hoodlams especially seem to stare through their eyelids to look extra tough). Authentic locations (if a little cleaned up) and nice motors. The killings of Cordell and McVitie are brutal. Hardy has this weird look in his eyes - he appears to lack irises - and you never know which way things are going to jump. Aside from Fassbender and Bale, I don’t know of any actors of their generation with that kind of intensity (Gyllenhaal?) Thewlis is also good fun, as are Cordell and Jack the Hat. Great to see one of my ex-students get a screen credit.

Brooklyn. A Nick Hornby script from a Colm Toibin novel. A much slighter film even than Legend in a way, but again a nice performance from Saoirse Ronan, who seems to be physically tansformed as the story unfolds. Julie Walters steals her scenes effortlessly as the matriarchal Irish-Brooklyn landlady.

45 Years. Another “actors’” piece, with Charlotte Rampling (very much the star) and Tom Courtenay, in a story about secrets. A bit over-earnest and very conservatively filmed, it does have two stand-out scenes - one involving Rampling, an old analogue slide projector and bedcloth (proving that the most cinematic of scenes doesn’t need the flashbangs), and the other at the end. The final dance encompasses the entire movie: not a word is said but the whole story is written on Courtenay’s and Rampling’s faces - until the final few frames…

Seems a bit pompous to call Transformers a “film”. I have a default of calling American movies movies, European films films and British films crap. A bad habit, no doubt. There is another term which is much more common in the industry itself: picture. So if you want to sound like some overblown Hollywood mogul, drawl on about who is and who’s not going to be in the picture.